5/24/2006

The Hercules [California] City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to take the unprecedented step of using eminent domain to prevent Wal-Mart from building a big-box store on a 17-acre lot near the city's waterfront.

The vote caused most of the 300 people who had packed Hercules City Hall for the meeting to break out in cheers and applause.

"The city of Hercules is very unique. People from the outside have to understand that,'' said Hercules Vice Mayor Ed Balico just before the vote.

During a 90-minute public comment period that preceded the vote, nearly everyone who spoke urged the council to fight Wal-Mart.

"Throw the bums out," Hercules resident Steve Kirby said at the podium of Wal-Mart. "Wal-Mart will never understand what we want."

Another resident, Anita Roger-Fields, expressed concern for small businesses in the city, saying they could be driven out of business by the discount store. "(Wal-Mart is) the worst thing that could happen to our community. They want to crush the competition."

The vote is the latest twist in a battle between the city and the discount-store chain, which wants to build a store near the city's historic waterfront. The city contends Wal-Mart's plan to build a discount store does not fit with its plans to develop the waterfront into a pedestrian-oriented village with high-end shops and homes.

"I'm elated. This is the result we wanted. The fact that it was unanimous is wonderful. Our City Council really came through," said Brenda Smith Johnson, an information technology vice president with JP Morgan Chase in San Francisco who moved to Hercules in 1992. "I know this is going to be a hard fight but we're up to it."

Some residents were infuriated that Wal-Mart had warned that if the City Council voted for eminent domain, the move would cost the city millions.

"I don't like to be threatened and they threatened my community,'' Bob Steiner, a certified public accountant and magician who lives in Hercules, said after the vote.

Only about four people spoke in favor of Wal-Mart. "The city has no guarantees that anybody is going to develop the property if they take it away from Wal-Mart," said Hercules resident Andre Wilson.

The vote allows the city to begin proceedings to acquire Wal-Mart's property by force to achieve its redevelopment goals.

Following the vote, Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Loscotoff said Wal-Mart will evaluate the situation and decide what to do next.

The city was once a company town, home to a dynamite plant that during World War I was the nation's leading producer of TNT, and some turn-of-the-century homes that used to house company officials have been restored. The city plans to continue developing land along the waterfront to fit its vision.

"Why should we have to sell ourselves short when we have this great waterfront," Hercules resident Valerie Wilgus said following the vote.

Some residents have said they would prefer grocery stores such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe's or Andronico's, and specialty shops like those in Berkeley's swank Fourth Street district.

The vote comes after Wal-Mart rejected a city offer to buy its property earlier this year.

Officials from the nation's largest retailer have said they are determined to open a store on the company's 17 acres overlooking San Pablo Bay. In a letter to the city on Tuesday, Wal-Mart attorneys argued that eminent domain was unnecessary because the company had tailored its project to meet the community's desires, downsizing the proposed store and garden center from 167,000 square feet to roughly 100,000 square feet and designing the shopping center to have "a very attractive, village-like appearance.''

But critics countered that Wal-Mart's latest plan was still more than 50 percent larger than a store plan approved for the site before the retail giant bought the property.

The city was the first in the state to adopt a redevelopment code that prescribes the design of streets, building dimensions and some architectural requirements, such as front porches. A key part of the plan called for a waterfront village with high-density housing and shops, a shoreline park, a train station, bus service and even a ferry stop.

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